Within just a few weeks this past fall, United Bank Limited (UBL) in Pakistan was able to design, procure, and distribute over one million VISA debit cards to the flood-affected citizens of Pakistan following the devastating flood.  In a country that previously only had 5 million debit and credit cards combined, this was no easy feat. To kick off our series on government payments and branchless banking, Nicole Pasricha, a former member of the CGAP Technology Team now working with MEDA, sat down with Abrar Mir, EVP of branchless banking at UBL, to find out how they made it happen.

Nicole Pasricha (NP): Maybe we could start from the beginning. How did the idea of using debit cards and a branchless network for aid to flood victims even come about?

Abrar Mir (AM): It happened very suddenly actually. When the question arose of how to get cash aid to the flood-affected families in a quick and transparent manner, the government called UBL and the rest of the banking industry to present our solutions. Previously, we had worked with the government to facilitate cash aid disbursements to another set of internally displaced persons—albeit at a smaller scale—and the government requested a similar technology-based solution.  All of the banks were asked to make formal presentations on a plan to manage the card and cash disbursement for four affected provinces and 70 affected districts of Pakistan, reaching up to 1.6 million displaced families. 

NP: That is a daunting request.  How did the government decide which bank to work with?

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